Soldiers' bodies are flown home

The bodies of the two British soldiers shot dead in Northern Ireland by the Real IRA were today flown home for burial.

The remains of Sappers Patrick Azimkar, 21, from Wood Green, and Mark Quinsey, 23, from Birmingham, were flown in a military plane after a ceremony at Massereene barracks in Antrim, where they died on Saturday.

The return of the soldiers' bodies came after Sir Hugh Orde, the chief constable of Northern Ireland police, and his Irish Republic equivalent, Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy, met in Belfast for talks on how to fight the renewed IRA threat.